Judge orders New Mexico to revise education plan for Native and at-risk students

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A judge ordered New Mexico to rewrite part of its education fix after finding the state still falls short for vulnerable students.

The ruling on Monday sends the Public Education Department back to revise its nearly 200-page plan in the Yazzie-Martinez case, which two parents filed in 2014.

A court ruled for the parents in February 2019 and ordered the state to create a remedial plan to help disabled, Native, English-learning and low-income students succeed in class and after graduation.

The state fought that ruling for five years, then held public meetings, considered community input and released a plan a year ago. In spring 2026, Yazzie-Martinez plaintiffs and education advocates said the plan did not go far enough.

“What we’re really seeking is a sense of young people being able to fulfill their potential and to design a future that they imagine for themselves,” Loretta Trujillo said.

What changes now?

Monday’s ruling found significant deficiencies in the state’s plan, including a lack of specific steps to address class sizes, teacher training and evaluations, and services for at-risk students.

The judge ordered the state to submit a supplemental plan addressing those shortcomings, including class size reductions, summer school and extended learning opportunities, teacher evaluations, textbook funding, teacher training and additional services for at-risk students.

“Education is at the heart of democracy, and we really believe that young people and community survival is at the heart of this work,” Trujillo said.

Trujillo said the state’s one-size-fits-all approach is not meeting the needs of each student and that disadvantaged students have been falling behind.

“When we avoid that, or we erase their identities, we end up with young people who are being forced to feel as if they don’t bring anything to the classroom, as if they’re empty vessels,” said Trujillo. “Instead, we believe that if we were to embrace those things, we would launch ourselves to higher degrees of rigor, higher degrees of student outcomes, in a relatively short amount of time.”

What’s next?

Trujillo said the ruling still does not go far enough and that advocates largely remain outside the editing process.

“That’s all we’ve ever asked for is collaboration because what is the missing piece is that communities are feeling under underheard and under resourced, and that combination together means that we’re not seeing changes in outcomes, despite increased investments,” Trujillo said.

No one from the Public Education Department made themselves available for an interview. The department gave KOB 4 a statement saying, in part:

“We see this as a valuable roadmap that provides greater clarity to the Department in its work. The Court said it is confident the PED can complete the supplement, and we share that confidence. The PED remains fully committed to delivering an excellent education for every New Mexico student, especially those the original case was brought to serve.”

The state must deliver its supplemental plan by March 26, 2027 and April 23 is the deadline for plaintiffs to file objections.

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